Legislation providing for a federal takeover of the immigration
authority of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands
(CNMI), a U.S. possession near Guam, is designed to shut down
the Islands' garment industry and should be understood as such.

The legislation, S. 507, has been proposed by Senator Frank
Murkowski (R-AK), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee,
where the bill is under consideration. The bill has yet to be
marked up.

The legislation marks a attempt to continue the Clinton Administration's
unfortunte hostile attitude toward the expansion of private business
in the CNMI. The Bush Administration should reverse the Clinton
policy and allow the CNMI's economic growth to continue.

Under the 1976 U.S.-CNMI agreement, known as the Covenant,
under which the CNMI voluntarily joined the United States, the
U.S. government agreed that local immigration policies would remain
under the jurisdiction of the CNMI government. The Murkowski legislation
would unilaterally alter the contract.

Immigrants to the CNMI do not have the right to immigrate to
the U.S. mainland, so mainland immigration is unaffected by the
legislation.

Because of free market reforms first begun 25 years ago, the
CNMI is enjoying an economic boom so robust, thousands of guest
workers are needed to fill vacant jobs.

A recent GAO report says phasing out guest workers on the CNMI
would devastate the CNMI economy. According to analyst Peter Ferrara,
writing in the March 21 Washington Times, this report echoes
an earlier internal Interior Department report's conclusion that
if immigration on the islands were federalized and guest workers
phased out, "the economy of the Marianas would be severely
damaged, and the standard of living of the U.S. citizens residing
there would suffer tremendously. Major existing industries could
virtually collapse, leaving few sources of export earnings. The
economy would be sent into a catastrophic contraction."

Economic prosperity made possible by both the free market reforms
and the guest workers provides revenues funding 87 percent of
the CNMI government's budget. This, says Ferrara, is not only
higher than any other U.S. territory, some of which are mostly
financed with federal funds, but also higher than that of any
U.S. mainland state or local government.

The median household income in the CNMI has soared from $8,900
in 1980 to $30,700 in 1999, adds Ferrara.

CNMI working conditions and immigration procedures have all
been investigated by federal agencies, including OSHA, the Customs
Service and GAO, and have received passing grades. OSHA administrator
Frank Strasheim says of the CNMI's working conditions: "They're
well on their way to becoming a model for the rest of the world."

U.S. mainland-based garment manufacturers have long called
for an end to the CNMI's right to employ guest workers, arguing
that lower wage rates in the Far East Pacific region make it harder
for mainland-based garment firms to compete with the CNMI. Garments
manufactured in the CNMI account for one half of 1 percent of
U.S. garment sales.

The Murkowski legislation essentially would impose economic
sanctions on a small U.S. possession and U.S. citizens, simply
because of its free market success.

-by Amy Ridenour

4.75 Million Pounds of Rice Destined for
Burial, not for Poor

An unfortunate, perhaps even tragic story appeared in the May
21 Houston Chronicle: 4.75 million pounds of rice that could have
been used to feed starving people is being destroyed by the Aventis
Corporation. The destruction has been ordered as a defensive measure
after last year's incident in which unapproved bioengineered corn
accidentally appeared in Taco Bell taco shells.

The rice, dubbed "LibertyLink," because it is resistant
to Liberty pesticide, has been granted approval by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture and is likely
to receive Environmental Protection Agency approval shortly. If
stored until EPA approval is received, the rice could be distributed
as food.

Last year environmental groups and some network news anchors,
including CBS's Dan Rather, overhyped the Taco Bell story (See
National Policy Analysis #311 "Print Trumps Broadcast Media
in Accurate Reporting of Bioengineered Corn Recall" at http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA311.html
for details). The result was a public relations disaster for the
biotechnology industry, although the risk to humans was nearly
nonexistent.

The Chronicle quotes a Texas farmer agreeing with the policy:
"If I was Adventis, I would be doing exactly the same thing.
They've got to be extremely cautious with what they're doing."

He's right. 4.75 million pounds of rice isn't worth a PR disaster
that could shut down an entire industry, especially since agricultural
biotechnology holds such promise for feeding the Third World.

But it is a shame, nonetheless, that starving people will never
receive this rice.

-by Amy Ridenour

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